Experts Describe New Thinking Regarding Organ Rejection.

Transplant researchers are challenging a long-held assumption about how biologic pathways trigger immune rejection of donor organs, noting that chemokines are not necessary to start the rejection response. Until now, scientists have thought that T cells were attracted to transplanted organs by chemokines that are secreted by epithelial cells of the organ when it becomes inflamed. Instead, they say that a donor kidney's antigen-presenting cells expose donor surface antigens to the recipient's immune system to trigger a response. The findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.